Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

Laidback Al · Sep 30, 2014

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been raging for several months. We are deluged by the growth in cases, failing health care systems, and deaths in the streets. This thread is for posting positive stories relating to the outbreak that can provide hope and encouragement for people in West Africa and around the world.
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Laidback Al · Sep 30, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

Grieving But Grateful, Ebola Survivors In Liberia Give Back

http://ktep.org/post/grieving-grateful-ebola-survivors-liberia-give-back

Harrison Sakilla, a 39-year-old former teacher, can't stop smiling.
"I have to smile," he says. "I'm the first survivor for the case management center here from Ebola." . . .

Sakilla and other survivors gather together in their own little center, beyond the pop-up tents. Several are helping Doctors Without Borders, looking after orphaned children and performing other tasks.

That's the case of 21-year-old Bendu Borlay. With a sleeping infant tied to her back, she tells NPR that the person she loved most ? her big sister who raised her as a child after their mother died ? has died of Ebola. . . . .

But she's finding a way to give back for her own survival, watching over Mamaya Kane, the 15-month-old baby girl strapped to her back. Borlay never met the infant's mother, who died of the virus. The baby's grandmother, she adds, was being cared for in the isolation unit.

"That's the reason I'm still at the Ebola treatment center, volunteering to take care of this baby," she tells NPR. "The grandmother tested positive, but the baby tested negative, so Doctors Without Borders was looking for somebody to volunteer to take care of the baby." . . .

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sharon sanders · Sep 30, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

hat tip Sharky

Woman saves three relatives from Ebola using "trash bag method" for personal protective equipment (PPE)

snip

International aid workers heard about Fatu's "trash bag method" and are now teaching it to other West Africans who can't get into hospitals and don't have protective gear of their own.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/25/health/ebola-fatu-family/

Gert van der Hoek · Sep 30, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

Ebola centre releases first survivors in Sierra Leone

by VOA 30 September 2014

Osman Sesay, an Ebola survivor, holds up his discharge certificate in Banga Ground community, near Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sept., 27, 2014. - VOA -

FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE - When Kadiatu Bangura saw her brother, Emmanuel, for the first time after her release from the International Red Cross-operated Ebola treatment center near Kenema, she ran into his arms crying tears of joy.

She had not seen him for weeks and was not sure she would ever see him again.

The treatment center, in one of the areas hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak, released its first survivors of the deadly disease this past weekend.

Of the four west African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak, Liberia has been hit the hardest, with 3,458 people infected, and 1,830 of those killed by the disease. Sierra Leone has had 1,813 reported cases and 593 deaths, the WHO said. -

See more at: http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-africa-byo-54848.html#sthash.uTwAUjrv.dpuf

AlaskaDenise · Oct 14, 2014

Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

Monrovia Clinic Hired 26-Year-Old Who Lost Family Members to Virus as a Counselor

MONROVIA, Liberia?Six mornings a week, Salome Karwah gets up and goes to work at the Ebola treatment unit where she watched her parents wither and die?just three days apart?and where she almost died of Ebola as well.

.....Ms. Karwah, who had been a nurse?s assistant at a private clinic before the outbreak, was discharged on Sept. 5 from the Elwa treatment unit, run by Doctors Without Borders. But less than a month later, she returned as one of seven Ebola survivors hired by the clinic to counsel and comfort those suffering from the disease.

Ms. Karwah and the other survivors are paid for their work at the Ebola unit, but few see it as a job. They are part of a select group that can now face the virus without fear and they want to help.

Ebola, as with other viruses, leaves survivors immune to the strain that sickened them. So the survivors at Elwa clinic have become a key part of the operation?they are the ones who can sit for long spells with the ill, hold their hands, talk to them without worrying that any skin contact is lethal......

BestlaStormcrow · Oct 14, 2014

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

How wonderful! In all this tragedy, those poor folks have someone to sit with them and hold their hands.

hawkeye · Oct 14, 2014

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

:applause:

AnnaLisa · Oct 14, 2014

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

Great story. I needed this today.

AlaskaDenise · Oct 14, 2014

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

AnnaLisa said:
Great story. I needed this today.

When I saw that cute 26YO survivor holding that baby, not only did I shed a tear, but I also remembered that studies of large orphanages have shown that "failure to thrive" deaths can be induced by lack of physical contact. So orphanage workers spend time just holding babies. Perhaps holding the baby close will be a life saving treatment.

.

AlaskaDenise · Oct 14, 2014

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

Re: Ebola Survivors Return to Comfort Other Patients in Liberia

How Orphanages Kill Babies-- and Why No Child Under 5 Should Be in One

...about 1/3 of babies placed in the barest orphanages can actually die as a result

Basically, they die from lack of love. When an infant falls below the threshold of physical affection needed to stimulate the production of growth hormone and the immune system, his body starts shutting down.

.

Emily · Oct 16, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2014/10/singing-about-ebola

October 3, 2014 | 2:50 PM | Andrea Shea

Why Are These Scientists Singing About Ebola?

The first confirmed U.S. case of Ebola is fueling domestic fears of the deadly virus, but the epidemic has been ravaging West Africa for months, killing thousands of people, including researchers fighting the disease.

Their deaths ? and the outbreak?s ongoing toll on West African health workers ? has inspired one Harvard scientist to create a surprisingly uplifting music video. It?s a life-affirming song that aims to honor those on the Ebola front lines and is also the theme song for a public education campaign in Nigeria...

Published on Sep 29, 2014

Thousand Days' video for "One Truth," filmed in Cambridge, MA.

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Written for the many who have put their lives at risk saving others during the Ebola putbreak. The women and men in this video are now back in Africa working as scientists to help fight this deadly disease. We hope that we let our world not be defined by the destruction of one virus, but illuminated by billions of hearts and minds together ?in this fight always?.

One Truth Lyrics

I?m sitting in here in this room
Watching everything move
I do not know how this city was built
We are forsaken to the sound
oh that life that goes
but we were born to radiate

Chorus
Uhh uhh uhh uhh yeah yeah yeah yeah x 3

Verse 2
We are gathered on the ground waiting for a sign to arrive
looking for the answers in the starry sky
but we were home all along
and we are the light
---we think, we speak, we walk, we breathe the air

Chorus
Uhh uhh uhh uhh yeah yeah yeah yeah x 3

Yeah
A lifetime that we write
We laugh
We cry
We pray
We areee love
--
we dream
we scream
we strive
our hunger will never die
I?m here in this fight, always

Chorus
Uhh uhh uhh uhh yeah yeah yeah yeah x 6

A lifetime for one for one truth
That I?m alive, And so are you
We are here, We are the proof
Yeah

A lifetime for one for one truth x 3

Song by Pardis Sabeti and Bob Katsiaficas
Performed by Pardis Sabeti, Philomena Ehiaghe, Onikepe (Nike) Folarin, Okuboyejo Titilope (Titi) Modupe, Aida Badian, Awa Deme, Eghosasere (Eghosa) Uyigue, and Bob Katsiaficas.
Produced by Brian Charles
Engineered by Annie Hoffman
Video by Longzhi Tan and Pardis Sabeti?with Philomena Jemima Ehiane Eromon and Onikepe Folarin.

Laidback Al · Oct 17, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

Photo Gallery - The Survivors: Liberians who recovered from Ebola
See: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/the-survivors-liberians-who-recovered-from-ebola-slideshow/

nola_mnr · Oct 18, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Ugandan-Ebola-survivors-ask-to-be-sent-to-West-Africa-20141016-2

Kampala - Survivors of an Ebola epidemic that killed more than 200 people in Uganda 14 years ago on Thursday asked to be sent to West Africa to lend psychological support to sufferers there.
[...]
"We can give psycho-social support, talk to people who survived and who have lost relatives," he said.
[...]

AlaskaDenise · Oct 18, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

nola_mnr said:
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Ugandan-Ebola-survivors-ask-to-be-sent-to-West-Africa-20141016-2

Kampala - Survivors of an Ebola epidemic that killed more than 200 people in Uganda 14 years ago on Thursday asked to be sent to West Africa to lend psychological support to sufferers there.
[...]
"We can give psycho-social support, talk to people who survived and who have lost relatives," he said.
[...]

I wonder if the viral genetic differences, plus the fact that research has shown immunity for 10 years, may mean they good intentions cannot be utilized.

.

nola_mnr · Oct 18, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

http://www.africlandpost.com/east-africa-send-600-health-workers-ebola/

East Africa to send 600 health workers for Ebola

Arusha ? East African nations are sending over 600 health workers including 41 doctors to West Africa to combat the spread of Ebola, the regional five-nation bloc said in a statement on Friday.
[...]
The 619 doctors and health workers will be sent from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
[...]

Laidback Al · Oct 22, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

How 1 doctor saved Nigeria from Ebola catastrophe

<cite id="yui_3_16_0_1_1414007464293_1975" class="byline vcard top-line"> By Dylan Stableford <abbr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1414007464293_1979">October 21, 2014 8:28 AM</abbr> </cite> Yahoo News

A day after the World Health Organization declared Nigeria free of Ebola, the doctor who treated the country's first case of the deadly virus and later died from the disease herself is being hailed as a hero for helping stop the outbreak.

Dr. Stella Ameyo Adadevoh, a doctor at First Consultant Hospital, oversaw treatment of Patrick Sawyer, Nigeria's Ebola patient zero, when he arrived sick in Lagos, Nigeria's former capital and Africa's largest city, on a flight from Liberia in July.

Adadevoh fought to isolate Sawyer, a top official in the Liberian Ministry of Finance who did not take kindly to isolation and lied about his symptoms, officials said.

"Immediately, he was very aggressive," Dr. Benjamin Ohiaeri, the hospital's director, told the BBC. "He was more intent on leaving the hospital than anything else. He was screaming. He pulled his intravenous [tubes] and spilled the blood everywhere."

Adadevoh, the Telegraph writes, "effectively saved the country from disaster by spotting that its first Ebola patient was lying about his condition, and then stopped him leaving her clinic." . . . . .

http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-nigeria-hero-doctor-adadevoh-122828747.html

Laidback Al · Oct 24, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

Nothing to fear from a recovered Ebola patient

US President Barack Obama gives a hug to Dallas nurse Nina Pham in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 24 October 2014. Nina Pham was released on 24 October from the hospital after being declared Ebola free, Nina was the first nurse to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/obama-s-hands-on-approach-to-the-ebola-crisis-1414181503-slideshow/

MHSC · Oct 24, 2014

Re: Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

MSF celebrates 1000th survivor of Ebola in west Africa

21 October 2014 at 1:52pm
http://www.itv.com/news/2014-10-21/msf-celebrates-1000th-survivor-of-ebola-in-west-africa/?

Medical relief charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) are celebrating their one thousandth survivor of the deadly Ebola virus across their treatment centres in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Positive Stories Emerging from the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

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